He has the supercharged retail app, now he needs the market

READY FOR LAUNCH: Mush Bahadur from Caloundra has developed a marketing app.Iain Curry

A BELLVISTA man has developed an app and associated business model so new and so unique that he is unsure how to take it to market.

Software developer Mush Bahadur's iLaunch app, for iPhone and Android smartphones, is designed to help small businesses increase the number of customers through their doors.

It does this by using location-based technology to link smartphone users with a business that they need.

The app goes further in that it allows the businesses listed to upload an electronic catalogue; information about products, services and pricing, with links to photos or a specific promotional code and a function allowing customers to click to call or email.

"It is aimed at any type of business," Mr Bahadur said. "It could be hardware or sports stores, a dentist, the council or a restaurant uploading its menu.

"Other location-based platforms like Google Places will find where businesses are, but they won't tell you what they're selling.

"So I want to allow a business to upload what they're selling and then encourage customers to phone them or walk through their doors.

"Because a phone call is worth more than a click (on Google AdWords for example).

Mr Bahadur has self-funded a two-year research and development journey to reach this point, sourcing much of the non-core work from O Desk freelancers.

Stage two of his model would involve him using his SEO background to generate leads for his business customers himself and hire partners to do the same.

This would create a cost- per-call network for location-based products, where customers would be willing to pay $5 per phone call, for example.

Mr Bahadur said he has been writing software since he was 11, and has degrees in maths and computing.

A former consultant at Oracle, he was in the middle of raising $10 million in venture capital to fund a unique workflow system adopted by the US Air Force and Wesfarmers when the dotcom crash burst the bubble in 2000.

He ended up on the Sunshine Coast with his wife and four children because of its family-friendly attributes.